Trailers for The Dark Knight Rises have heretofore been – how to put this? – kinda moody. Populated by slow, sweeping shots, doom-and-gloom dialog and plinking piano notes, they looked awesome, focused more on the drama and less on the butt-kicking.
The latest trailer for the final installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy (above) is much different. Even though much of the footage has been seen previously, just adding up-tempo music and cutting together the fighting and explosions at a faster pace makes it seem as though The Dark Knight Rises is an action movie – which it always has been presumed to be, even if the prior trailers hadn't indicated as much.
(Spoiler alert: Possible plot point follows.)
The big action-y bonus in this trailer has got to be the few seconds seen of the face-off between Bane (played by Tom Hardy) and Batman (Christian Bale). Also, did Bane just call Batman "Mr. Wayne"? Bane knows Batman is Bruce Wayne? OK, Bane is a smart lad, and there was always a good chance this would happen in Dark Knight Rises, but is anyone else surprised by this being in the trailer?
This could be audio from another scene placed over the fight, but it doesn't seem like it, and – no matter what – we now know that Mr. Wayne is "not afraid, I'm angry."
If there's one thing worth seeing, it's a pissed-off Batman. Now all we have to do is wait to see what wrath he'll bring ... or have brought upon him.
The Dark Knight Rises, rated PG-13, hits theaters July 20.
